Authorities in South Florida are now looking into a case of identity theft involving images of child pornography.
Yvonne Aleman, a well-known South Florida businesswoman and offshore powerboat racer, told News4JAX that someone took control of her Facebook and posted images of child pornography.
“Over the last 48 hours, I’ve been trying to regain my life,” Aleman said.
Aleman is known for organizing boating events that raise money for children dealing with poverty and physical permanent injuries. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, she organized the annual Jacksonville River Rally Poker Run, which raised money to help child burn victims go to summer camp. But now, she says, her name and reputation are being threatened.
“That’s probably the most horrible part of this because Facebook is the platform that use to spread the word about events like the Jacksonville River Rally that benefits children who are burn victims,” Aleman said.
It all started when, she says, she received an email from Facebook security letting her know there was a login to her account from Hanoi, Vietnam. Then, when she tried to log into her account, Aleman says, she received these messages notifying her that her account had been suspended because images of child sexual exploitation had been posted on her Facebook page.
“Just the fact that it was child exploitation for me is even harder because that’s not who I am, and it’s defamatory,” Aleman said.
She says she eventually learned someone purchased the domain name to a gym internet site she once owned but has been inactive for several years. One of her emails was associated with that site and her Facebook page.
“I guess when you’re trying to get into someone’s Facebook, it will show emails that are partially redacted, but anyone with any hacking intelligence can figure out these are the email addresses,” Aleman said.
She says she learned through a computer expert that the hacker likely found a way to use the email to go through the two-factor authentication security to breach her account.
She filed a complaint with both the FBI and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
News4JAX has reached out to Facebook for a statement.